TruePAK for less than £1000

TruePAK asset management at a fraction of the price.

by
Macworld staff
, | 04 Sep 06

Out of the Box has launched a condensed version of their FileMaker Pro based £60k truePAK Pro production MIS system.

Designed for the graphic arts industry, truePAK studioLite is a complete Studio Production MIS System with a number of tools for managing and tracking studio production. The package has an entry-level price of £995 (excluding VAT). Upgrades are available to extend the functionality.

Out of the Box started work on the Lite version of truePAK after discovering the market for such a product when at IPEX. "We spoke to many people from design companies who were interested in truePAK but really required a cut down version of the MIS system at a price more suited to smaller companies," explained managing director Wayne Hawksworth.

Hawksworth added that the Lite version is a "downscaled system with the features of the truePAK Pro system but lacking the high end RIP integration of the pro package."

Hawksworth doesn’t anticipate his company will lose business from the pro version. "The inclusion of FileMaker Server Advanced, ten FileMaker licences, 12 months tech support, training, bespoke development, XML integration with truePAK Pro, and other features, justify the price of the pro version," he said.

TruePAK studioLite handles the production process from booking jobs in, to planning, creating quotations, approval and invoicing. It also offers capabilities for handling design and reprographic files.

It allows users to manage orders and track the specifications and timings for projects within the system; handles all the production files automatically, creating folders, versions and structures as required; and manages complete Brand Libraries and Job Asset Libraries.

During all aspects of a job being created, edited, produced and approved, the system is constantly updating and managing the costs. It also offers the ability to analyse workloads, departmental capacities and client-cost-design ratios.

The user is able to determine what detail their client can access over the internet.